ENVIRONMEN TAL SCIENCE HS III LECTURE NOTES WHY AND HOW DO WE STUDY ECOLOGY?What is ecology? From two Greek words: “ο ἶ κος”which means ‘ house’ and “λογία,”which means ‘study of’ Ecology is the study of human kind’s house (the planet Earth) Ecology is a study of interactions: Living things with other living things Living things with non-living things Ecology is an umbrella science. In order to effectively address real-world problems, ecology must use other sciences. An example is shown below: Are there levels to the study of ecology? The study of ecology occurs a t five levels: behavioral ecology, population ecology, community ecology, ecosystems ecology, and biosphere ecology Behavioral ecology Deals with the actions of an organism and how such actions contribute to its survival, reproduction and growth Behavioral ecology studies problems such as: Why are some species social while others a re solitary? Why do some bird species practice a polyandrous (one female, many males) mating system? What do flying lizards eat? Population ecology A population is a group of individuals belonging to the same species and interacting in the same space and time Individuals belong to the same species if they can successfully reproduce (this is known as the biological species concept) Population ecology deals with managing the abundance a nd density of populations Abundance– total number of individuals in a population Density– Abundance divided by habitat area Population ecology studies problems such as: What factors contribute to the survival or extinction o f populations? What limits the abundance of a population? (limited by food? By competitors? By natural enemies?) How do populations increase and why do they decrease in number? Proposal to use the water of the Tungtong River for domestic use in neighboring residential areas HYDROLOGY(study of movement, distribution and quality of water) How much water does the river hold? Is there enough water for domestic use throughout the year? (The river will not dry up?) Is the water quality good enough for human consumption? BIOGEOGRAPHY(study of distribution of animal and plant species in space and time) How will the reduced water flow affect the river’s biota?Will there be enough water for both humans and wildlife? SOCIAL SCIENCE(formal study of society) How will the water use affect the 200 households of informal settlers in the river banks? How will they reach to commercialization of a resource that they are already using for free? ECONOMICS(study of the production, distribution, and consumption ofgoods and services) Will the consumers be willing to pay when they already have MWSS? Will the project be economical? TOXICOLOGY(study of effects of chemicals on living things) Will the proposed project produce environmental pollutants? If so, how will these affect native wildlife? ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING(study of the application ofengineering principles to the improvement of nature) How much physical alteration ofthe environment will the project entail? Will the construction of the physical plant adversely affect native wildlife?
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